Thursday, 16 November 2023

Family violence

Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:05): (604) My adjournment matter is for the Attorney-General, Minister Symes. I recently attended Respect Victoria’s fifth anniversary event at Parliament House celebrating the progress Respect Victoria have made in the five years since the passage of Victoria’s Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018. It was great to hear from the minister at this event about all the important work this government is undertaking to lead the nation in preventative reforms, but disturbingly this event happened in the context of the preceding week in which at least five women had been killed by men. These numbers are in stark contrast to the often quoted figure that on average one Australian woman is murdered by a current or former partner every 10 days. According to Counting Dead Women Australia, the number of lives lost due to violence against women as of 16 November is 48. I had to increase that number from 47 to 48 overnight.

Almost one in four Victorian women have experienced physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner since they were 15, but violence against women is not inevitable. It is preventable. Coercive control is the most common risk factor leading up to an intimate partner homicide. This term captures a wide range of abusive behaviours, including social, financial, psychological and technology-facilitated abuse. Tasmania has already introduced specific crime offences that cover elements of coercive control. The Queensland government introduced legislation to criminalise it. South Australia is undertaking consultation on draft legislation, and from July 2024 coercive control will be a criminal offence in New South Wales. Here in Victoria, despite many calls for it, there have been no similar announcements. In late 2021 a motion was passed to call on the government to look into ways to enhance the understanding of coercive and controlling behaviours in our community and the justice system. The action I seek is that the minister commit to undertake consultation with the view of criminalising coercive control.